A fine-dining restaurant in the Foothills that offers some of the highest-priced entrees in town has failed a Pima County Health Department inspection for the second time in six months.
Five Palms Steak and Seafood, 3500 E. Sunrise Drive, scored five critical violations on an April 20 inspection and previously failed an inspection in October.
According to the report, which lists the rating as βprobationary,β temperatures in the restaurantβs refrigerators were higher than code allows, an employeeβs take-out box of food was on the prep table, and kitchen equipment and utensils had βexcessive build-up of food debris.β
When the inspector saw that Five Palms was vacuum packaging seafood on the premises, the restaurant was ordered to βcease and desist (packaging) operations immediatelyβ and throw away all of the product.
βWeβve been changing the kitchen around, since weβre getting ready to start a new menu. We have a brand new staff as of last week,β said Alex Hartleb, who took over as general manager a few weeks ago.
βThe inspector wants us to focus on the temperature of our product and the walk-in refrigerator,β she said. βEmployees were going in and out that day, which probably brought down the temperature, but the inspection took place well before dinner service.β
Hartleb said that the employee whose food was on the prep table no longer works there, and the restaurant has a designated area for employee dining.
βWe definitely want to ensure that everything is up to code,β she said.
Five Palms, which has been open since 2013, has entrees ranging from $29 for chicken to $185 for a 40-ounce tenderloin for four.
Five Palms is scheduled for reinspection May 2.
The restaurant also failed two consecutive inspections in June 2014.
